Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-03-11
DOWN THROUGH A BRIDGE.
NARRow EscApE OLE pAssENaERs

]
DENT
NARROW ESCAPE OF PASSENGERS.
ST LOUIS, March 0.-Thc Texas
bound train Of the iron Mountain
Railroad, which left st. Louis Sat
urdaN night, was precipitated into
creek 10y the bridge giving way,
two and a-hall miles south Of Vic
toria, Missouri. The engine and
all the passenger coaches went
down together. Only the sleeper
was left on the track. The acci.
dent, while not being at all IN.
usual in regard to fatal casualties,
proves to have been quite remark
able in respect 10 several clrcnm-
stances which attend it. 1t occur.
red at Victoria, thirty miles south
OF here, a little after ten O'Clock,
and was Occasioned by the giving
way under the train Of the trcStle
which crosses Joachim Creek, mt
that point. The train consisted Of
baggage, express and mail cars, q
smoker, two passenger coaches and
four Sleepers, carrying about 1870
/ passengers. \ heavy rain had tall
en- all day, and the creek was much
swollen. At lIemitite, the first
station this side of the trestlc. the
engineer received orders to run
cautiously as the rain had been
heavy and the creek was ont Of its
banks. Engineer Kelley says he
ran slowly beyond that point, and
both he and his fireman, VIM.
Hach, watched the track very care
fully. As he approached the tres
tie, Kelley observed that the track
was entirely straight and level,
showing nothing wrong, and he
went on without the slightest fear
or hesitation, but when his engine
reached about the middle Of the
trestle he felt the whole structure
sinking beneath him. I'm an IN
slant he opened the valve oper-
ating the air brakes full width, and
brought the train to soqulck a stop
| that the front end Of one Of the
cars was crushed in by the sudden
shock. This saved the coaches,
but the baggage, mail, express and
smoking cars went into the torrent
below, carrying with then all the
men on board. Engineer Kelley
and Fireman IIach went down with
the engine and were submerged in
/ the food. Kelley, IN his struggles
/ to save himself, found that one of
his feet was held fast, but at the
same instant and Just as he realiz-
ed that he must drown, the engine
turned over, his foot was released
and he came to the surface. Sciz-
ing a passing log he chung to 1t
desperately and was swept down
the torrents and lodged against
tree one hundred and fifty yards
below. With scarcely strength
enough to move he clasped his legs
and arms around limb OF tue tree,
became unconscious and was not
restored until two or three hours
after he had been taken from the
tree. when he found himself kindly
cared for in a house in Victoria.
/ His face and head were severely
cut, two OF his toes cut from one of
his feet, ana he is very badly
bruised in various parts of the body.
He will recover.
Fireman llach was carried about
five hundred yards down the
stream. lodged in mass OF brush
or drift, and was rescued soon after
the flood subsidized. He Is bruised
but not seriously hurt. The postal
car was swept away some distance,
and as the water rushed through II
from end to end the mail was liter
ally washed out, and is now scat
tered over miles Of territory or i'm
bedded in the mud Of the creek. II
is regarded as an almost total loss,
the whole of it being completely
soaked and the addresses of the
letters being obhterated. The pos
tai clerks, Mccullough, Smaller
and Ryan, were badly bruised, al
most drowned, and being stripped
for work, they lost all their clothes,
their gold watches, aud about two
hundred and fifty dollars in q oncy
we're carried away 10y the flood.
The smoker, which is said TO have .
contained some twenty persons,
was swept down about 300 feet be-
low the trestle, and all OF its oc-
cupants are believed to have been
saved. They succeeded in getting
outside Of the car, and clung to iiS
top until they were rescued. There
is some doubt about the baggage
man and express messenger beng
saved, but "A late despatch from he
wreck says that none OF the tram
men were lost.
4 special train was sent from
here between twelve and one o'clock
conveying physicians and medical
supplies. The train returned this
afternoon and brought number of
passengers and trainmen who did
not care To wait at the wreck until .
the trestle was repaired. As soon
AZ the water subsidized sufficiently,
a large gang Of men was put TO .
work and new crossing was finish
ed this afternoon and trains are F
now running regularly. The cause .
of the Unprecedented flood is be-
lieved 10 have been u clOuG.burSt .
which took place Late in the even
inc and filled the creek, which
runs between rugged hills for miles,
so full that it became a raging tor
rent with current of over twenty
miles an hour, and swept every
thing before it.
He Means Business.